Dutch ISP Gives Up, Hands Over Names Of Suspected File Sharer

from the did-they-satisfy-the-conditions? dept

Over in the Netherlands, there's been an ongoing legal battle over whether or not ISPs are required to hand over the names of suspected file sharers. Last year, the courts determined that it was a violation of local privacy laws to hand over the names. However, a recent case set specific terms on when it could be okay to hand over the names: the copyright holders (in this case the entertainment industry) need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that illegal file sharing took place and that the person who is named on the account associated with the IP address was likely the person doing the file sharing. In this particular case, the entertainment industry group (funded, in part, by both the RIAA and MPAA) has seized a server that was used for file sharing, and claimed they could show the specific user, including an email address associated with that user. With that much evidence, the ISP has decided it's not worth fighting and has handed over the name. So, at least that explains how the industry was able to prove those two points -- though, some might argue that the user's email still might not be connected to the owner of the account whose IP address was being used.

Re: Tinus

and on closer examination... Tinus, you're a complete moron... the coffee shop reference was about the wifi access that most coffee shops (actual coffee shops, you know... the ones that sell coffee) have... what a douche

Agreed. I think the premiss about stereotyping was more like "coffeshops are to Holland as fat Americans are to America" (sorry, I'm not sure how to express this in logical symbols, but I hope you get the meaning), i.e. both are stereotypes that are getting really old, really fast.
Both are very offtopic as well :P

a bridge over troubled waters

Way off topic...

Geez... how lame. You'd think in this day and age people would ignore the ghosts in each country's closet. I'm sure everyone could come up with some negative comment about someone else's country somewhere in history.